When Are We?

Disclaimer: Really, people, who writes fanfiction nowadays? Not JK Rowling, I assure you.

Chapter 1

An Unexpected Traveling

James Potter hated weddings. True, it was the first wedding that he had ever attended and it had not even finished yet, but it was enough for him to know that he hated them.

First, it was the noise. Everybody was running around and shouting like mad. It turned out that there were at least fifty things that needed to be done before the ceremony itself. Something with the bride's gown was not quite right, the cake had been somehow messed up, and Auntie Luna had taken some of her strangest creatures here for the youngest kids to play with, and they had lost them - the children lost the animals, that was it, not the other way around. All in all, he felt like a patient in a madhouse and he did not like it at all. Weddings should not create such crazy messes - it was his job!

Second, it was the outfit. His mother had forced him into official green robes that he absolutely loathed. Red hair and green robes, what a terrible clash! Jillian Hart, a classmate of his, who had somehow managed to befriend Rose and thus had received an invitation, had already managed to spot him and she had lost no time in mocking him. She definitely needed some of Uncle George's newest products tested on her. Let's see how she would mock him with her pretty face turned into a pig snout! Really, couldn't Al and Rose pick their friends better? James regretted ever leaving them alone for their first days at Hogwarts. Look what they did! James could accept their friendship with Malfoy - although quite grudgingly, - but this golden-haired devil was too much for him to bear. Jillian Hart, what a joke. The only heart the girl had was in her name.

Third, the gnomes had chosen this particular day to come back into the garden of the Burrow, so James and his cousins had spent the whole morning degnoming the garden. Their Grandma had forced them to work like house-elves and then expected of them to be shining with joy on the wedding that took place only a few hours later. Well, James was not happy and he did not hesitate to say that to anybody who asked.

Fourth, he absolutely refused to chat with the guests, keeping them company, so that the women would have the time to make Victoire's gown all right. He suspected that his mother would make him to, though, which was why he was currently hiding in his Granddad's shed with Muggle things, talking quietly with Al, Fred, Hugo, and Louis. Lily and Rose were talking in hushed voices in the other side of the shed. Although it was a brilliant sunny day, there was almost no light in the shed and the children could see only the dm outlines of their grandfather's beloved Muggle things. None of them minded, though - all they wanted was to remain unnoticed until that whole wedding frenzy was over.

"Shush!" Rose suddenly hissed. "Someone is coming!"

All kids fell absolutely silent and absolutely static, now willing to be discovered. Soon, they realized that Rose was right - there were two voices that were coming nearer. Not random voices, however- they belonged to the two main personages of the day. Much to James' joy, Teddy and Victoire stopped right in front of the shed and continued their conversation.

"I can't believe I'm feeling that nervous," Victoire said. "I know that every bride feels the same way, but somehow, I never thought I would be reduced to such state. Teddy, that's awful."

"Awful enough to make you cancel the wedding right now?" Teddy joked, and Victoire chuckled nervously.

"Not that much! I've been hunting for you for two years, so there is no way I'm letting you go now!"

In the shed, Al pressed a hand to his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Teddy asked. "Shouldn't you be getting ready, gown and all?"

Victoire snorted. "They are still fussing about mending my gown. I doubt they'll even know that I'm missing until it's time for me to put it on. A Paris doll would be sufficient enough for them."

"Maybe we should run away," Teddy offered.

In the shed, the children looked at each other and listened intently, trying to stifle their laughter.

"Don't be stupid," Victoire said, but her voice indicated that she was tempted.

"We still have time!"

And then it happened. James' elbow brushed something and the something fell down with a crash. The sound that followed resembled the breaking of a glass.

"Whoops!" James said.

The door flung opened, Teddy and Victoire entered, Teddy said, 'Lumos!' and then the two of them started laughing at the kids' guilty faces. "Eavesdropping, were you?" Teddy asked good-naturedly. No one answered.

Now, when it was light in the shed, everybody saw the pieces of glass and golden beads that were spread on the floor. Victoire looked at Lily's watch. "We still have the time to collect them and repair the item," she said. "You know that Grandfather would be awfully disappointed if something happened to his beloved Muggle items."

And so five boys, two girls, the bride to-be, and the bridegroom to-be all knelt on the floor and started gathering the tiny pieces. It was a hard task, because there were so many of them, and it took them a minute to find them all.

"So," Hugo asked, "what was that?"

James shrugged. "How could I know?"

"Well, you were the one who broke it," Louis pointed out.

James snorted. "That doesn't mean that I know what it is. Some sort of necklace, I suppose. Oh, look! It's some kind of watch!" he exclaimed. "And it still works!"

The others looked at him, while he was taking the broken hourglass that was lying from the floor. Teddy's face contorted in panic and his hair turned black. "Don't touch it!" he shouted, but since when had James started obeying commands? He turned the pendant and it started rolling uncontrollably when James' finger touch it, and the world started spinning... and spinning... and spinning.

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When the spinning finally stopped, Teddy cautiously touched his head to check that it was still in its place, and looked around. Then, he started counting: Victoire, James, Lily, Rose, Al, Hugo, Louis, and Fred. They were all here and they seemed to be recovering from the same spinning that still held Teddy himself in its grip. They were all still clutching the beads and peaces of glass that they had been collecting from the floor before James did his thing. They were all here and they all looked all right. That was the important thing.

Only... where was here?

He looked around. The room which they were in was old and seemed like it would fall apart every moment now: old furniture, threadbare upholstering, something that looked like a huge tapestry on the wall. The curtains were closed and looked like they had never been opened to let the sun in. When Al sneezed, a cloud of dust rose from the carpet and engulfed them, making them cough, which led to more dust and more coughing.

"Everyone fine?" Teddy finally asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yes," they all chorused unevenly.

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

Teddy slowly went to the table and looked at the newspaper that laid spread on it. His face turned ashen, along with his hair. "I think that the question is not where, but when are we," he said very slowly and then he went to James and shoved the newspaper in his face. "Read!" he barked.

Looking very confused, James did what he was told. "Dolores Umbridge, a - "

"Not that!" Teddy yelled. "Read the date!"

"14^th November 1995 - " James started and then his face turned the same shade of gray like Teddy's. "Oh no! That's impossible!"

"Oh yes, it is possible!" Teddy was fuming with anger. "The thing that you broke - the thing that you turned after I told you not to - was a Time-Turner. You brought us twenty-four years back in time!"

Startled cries and exclamations came out from the other seven's mouths. James did not wait to see their further reactions: he ran. Unfortunately, Teddy was five inches taller than him and had longer legs; he caught him just when he had reached the corridor. The next moment, he threw him on the floor.

"You're dead!" he yelled and pressed James' arms and legs to the floor, while the boy was desperately trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

"It was an accident!"

"Sure it was," Teddy snorted. "I told you not to turn the bloody thing. Oh, you're so dead!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Do you hear me? Dead!"

"I am sorry!"

"So am I, and what does that change?"

"Let me go," James said.

"Never."

"Let's negotiate."

"You are dead and that is not negotiable!"

"It hurts!"

"When we are back home - if we ever get back home, - say goodbye to your hiding places for Uncle George's products, because I'll tell your parents about each one of them - "

"Ouch!" James howled.

" - the secret passages for Hogsmeade, because I'll tell Filch about them - "

"Help!"

" - the Marauder's Map, because I will personally take it from you - "

"No!"

"I'll make sure that Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny keep you grounded during the summer holidays until you graduate!"

James looked at him with desperate eyes. Teddy growled. The others were not interested in the fight at all. Instead, they were trying to find out where they were.

"Fine, I surrender," James said, Teddy loosened his grasp a bit and James used the chance to try an escape. Teddy managed to grab his leg and James fell on the carpet again. Teddy rolled and landed over him. James wildly flailed his arms and hit Teddy's face a few times, making the young Metamorphmagus even angrier. He turned James on his stomach and pressed his arms behind his back.

"Don't try to escape," he warned and then, to his greatest fury, he felt himself being dragged away from the beastly boy.

"Lad, I must ask you to calm down," a deep voice said in his ear. Teddy turned around and looked right in the face of a man that he had never met, but he had heard a lot about - Sirius Black. But right now, he was so angry that even the realization who this man was could not distract him from the main problem. He turned to James again. "Accept your fate."

A quick look around showed him that Victoire and the others were being questioned by a man with a long silver beard. His eyes met Vickie's and she shook her head almost imperceptibly, telling him that neither she, nor the others would say something, until they can talk to him. Meanwhile, James was being helped to his feet by a younger version of Kingsley Shacklebolt, who looked sympathetic, as if he thought that James was the victim here - James.

"I'm sorry, Teddy."

"I know you are sorry. You are always sorry! Even for dragging us here in the middle of - " At this place, Teddy suddenly remembered what day was today. "I was supposed to get married in less than an hour!" he roared and tried to escape Sirius Black's grasp. "You're dead!"

"Boy," Sirius said firmly, "if you don't calm down, we'll have to take you to a guarded room until you come to your sensed."

"Take him. Take the kid. He should be arrested."

"I'm sorry," James piped in.

"You'll be really sorry, just wait until your parents hear about this."

"Are you two relatives?" Kingsley asked, abandoning James and coming to Sirius' aid, because Teddy was giving all signs of going berserks again.

"Not for long," Teddy answered.

"This is my father's godson and I think you have to let him go."

"Not until he calms down."

"I won't just kill you. First, I'll torture you. This was supposed to be my wedding day, you thick-headed, mulish - "

"Lad, we can't let you go if you keep talking this way," Sirius said.

"Watch your back, James!"

"Lad, we aren't going to warn you anymore," Kingsley said and waved his wand. Teddy suddenly found himself with tied wrists, but his fury did not abate. Sirius, however, was not listening to him anymore.

"James?" he repeated.

"James Potter," the kid introduced himself. "And who might you be?"

Sirius paled. "That - that's a real coincidence."

"That isn't a coincidence at all," James corrected him.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH UP!" Teddy bellowed.

"I came from the future," James explained helpfully, and Teddy and Victoire both groaned at the same time. "We all did."

"The rest of your life will be a living hell!"

James looked at Teddy and then at Kingsley. "Please, let him go. It's all my fault."

"Of course it's your fault, you lunatic. And now we are stuck here and I'll kill you!"

"Boy, stop squirming," Kingsley said. Teddy did not stop.

"Please, let him go," James said. "He didn't do anything."

Sirius looked deeply, utterly, absolutely confused. His eyes were moving from the young man with the ever-changing hair to the boy who said that his name was James Potter and who really looked like James Potter, to the other boy, whose name he still did not know, but who also looked like James, only with Lily's eyes, and then to the two red-headed girls who resembled quite closely Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. From them, he continued looking at the kid who seemed to descend from two different races, to the boy who was almost as tall an just as red-haired as Ron Weasley, and finally to the silver-haired boy, who was standing next to the most beautiful girl that Sirius had ever seen. Had they really come from the future? He was sure that Dumbledore had not given them the location of the house, so maybe they had really entered by falling here from their own time.

"Can you explain what's going on here?" he finally asked, looking at the James boy.

"I'll explain," Teddy said.

"No, I want to hear it from the boy," Kingsley protested.

"He is my father's godson and he is really angry with me at the moment," James explained.

"Did he hurt you?" Sirius inquired.

"Only a little."

"Are you afraid of him?"

"No."

"You should be," Teddy interrupted. "You should be afraid of me."

James looked at him and sighed. "Teddy, if you don't stop talking like this, they won't let you go."

Sirius' eyes moved from Teddy to James. "James - if that's your name, - has Teddy ever hurt you?"

"If you don't let him go right now, he will hurt me."

"You are damn right here," Teddy confirmed.

"We can protect you," Kingsley said.

"They can't protect you," Teddy promised.

"That's enough, lad!" Sirius snapped.

"Stop calling me 'lad'!"

"You're coming with us into a separate room until you regain control over your nerves," Kingsley said firmly and grabbed Teddy's arm, dragging him away.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Victoire shouted from behind.

"Yes, leave him alone!" James supported her.

"We can't do that," Kingsley said, "not until he stops looking so aggressive."

"Then take me with him. I have to go with him"

Sirius and Kingsley both gaped at James. Why anyone would want to be in the company of someone who would not stop threatening them was beyond them.

"You give no signs of aggression."

"Everything happened because of me."

"How so?"

James opened him mouth; Teddy glared at him dirtily and James closed it again.

"Can I go with him?" James asked again.

"No," Sirius said.

"But why not?"

"You did nothing wrong."

"I'll do now," James said and kicked Sirius in the shins. Sirius gasped from the sudden attack. "Can I go with Teddy now?" James asked. Sirius and Kingsley did not answer immediately, so the boy kicked Sirius again.

"Ouch!"

"I'll do it again," James warned him.

"Fine!" Sirius exploded. "Kingsley, take this lunatic along with the other one in the room on the third floor. We may have a better chance at receiving something that makes sense from the others!"

Kingsley left with Teddy and James in front of him. Sirius rubbed his shin and looked at the other newcomers. "Why does he want so much to be imprisoned with the other one?" he asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"Oh, but it does," Victoire explained to him. "You see, when we come back to our own time, James will be in lots of trouble for landing us here and whatever happens to Teddy will result in extra punishment for James. He knows that, so it's in his best interest to get both of them out of further trouble."

Albus Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. Sirius shook his head. "Nutters," he muttered, "all of you."

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A. N. So? Is it worth being continued?

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